Marketing without market research is like driving using your rearview mirror. Sure, you might make it somewhere, but chances are you’ll crash before you get there.

Great marketing campaigns don’t start with creative ideas — they start with deep, strategic research.

The profitable ones are built with an intimate understanding of your customer.

Let me show you how to become the Sherlock Holmes of your market using our time-tested, ‘Sherlock Holmes Strategy’.

We’ve used this exact process to:

• Generate over 50,000 leads.
• Book in 15–20% of these leads into sales calls
• Execute 500+ successful ad and outbound campaigns.
• Help our clients consistently dominate their industries and frequently yield a 10x revenue return or more.

This research process is the 20% of the work that drives 80% of the results.

Most recently, we helped an online service company book 209 qualified calls in 59 days:

Also, we helped another online service booked 54 qualified calls in less than 30 days:

Lastly, we helped an enterprise company book 18 qualified sales calls and get 3 new deals worth 6 figures ARR each:

Cost per appointment varies based on industry and deal size. All of the above results helped the clients generate more than a 10x return on what they spent on advertising and their investment in our services. Results like these are possible, but atypical. What you will learn today works for us and has countless times but I cannot guarantee it will work for you. This is not easy. If you want to learn more about how we make this happen, book a call here.

Anyways, back to it.

Without a solid strategy, you’ll burn money on ads, time on content, and campaigns that miss the mark.

But with it, you’ll hit the ground running, armed with a strategy that’s practically guaranteed to work.

Grab a pen and paper, because this isn’t something you’ll want to skim.

Why Research and Strategy Matter

Before we dive in, let’s clarify what strategy is: prioritization.

You have an infinite number of ways to market your business:

• Who you target.
• What you say.
• How you say it.
• Where you say it.

Strategy is about answering this question:

What do you do with your limited resources when faced with infinite opportunities?

Business builders are faced with one main issue daily:

What should I spend my time on?

When thinking about acquiring customers, there are an infinite number of possible strategies. Most of them can work if done well.

With strategy, you hope to determine what can be done in the shortest period to yield the largest return, among all the other possibilities and activities.

At Adstra, creating campaigns, big ideas, and all that comes with it, has been fun.

But, it’s especially fun when we generate 10x returns or more for folks.

It’s only possible through our research strategy that you will learn today.

Step 1: Where to Start Your Research

Let’s start by gathering insights directly from your market. I’m completely against relying entirely on generic tools like SEMrush or AI.

If you do, you’re going to miss out on the deepest understanding of your customer that you can gather.

Go where your customers are talking.

• Reddit threads.
• Quora discussions.
• Facebook Groups.
• YouTube Comments.
• Amazon Reviews.

Some of our best ads were copied and pasted from a thread or forum I’ve found directly from the ICP themselves.

Pro Tip: Scrape insights directly from your ideal customers. Ignore experts or influencers unless they are your direct target audience.

Step 2: Decode Psychographics

Demographics (age, location, income) are helpful, but psychographics (desires, fears, motivations) are what convert.

Here’s what you’re looking for:

• What keeps them up at night?
• What problems are they desperate to solve?
• What are they willing to open their wallets for?

Example:

If your audience is small business owners struggling with growth, their psychographics might look like this:

• Dreams: Doubling revenue, hiring a bigger team, achieving freedom.
• Fears: Going bankrupt, losing clients, wasting money on ineffective solutions.
• Barriers: Lack of time, confusion about next steps, distrust of marketing services.

Do not skim past this step.

As you’re scrolling through these forums and other user-generated sites, work hard to find the true pains of your customers.

Oftentimes, you can find 2–3 very good forum threads where someone is debating an issue or pain, and the entire comment section is riddled with people venting about the same issue.

This is the money pot.

Often, Reddit is the best for this because anonymity allows people to be raw, unfiltered, and real.

See this example in r/womenintech

Along with this post, there are 60 more juicy comments from people faced with real trauma.

If you are a woman who helps tech women with their wellness through yoga, this is the most valuable information you can find to help you market to your prospects.

Thus, allowing you to truly help your audience solve their problems because you know them.

More on this later in the article.

Step 3: Use the WWWH Framework

Here’s a simple framework to create your initial hypothesis before diving deep:

• We help WHO: Identify your top 3 customer personas (look at your top-paying or longest-staying clients).
• Achieve WHAT: Define the specific results they want.
• Without WHAT: Identify their objections or misconceptions.
• HOW: Highlight your features, but sell benefits.

The only information you should have before marking these points down should come from your CRM and your sales calls.

Consider who was your best customer.

What made them the best for your business?

These are the folks who paid you the most, stayed the longest, were the best to work with, and got the most value from you.

If that segment is thin, that’s fine.

The thinner, the more targeted, the better.

Feature vs. Benefit

Keep in mind, that you must focus on the benefits over the features when telling your story.

Here’s how they differ:

• Feature: Heated leather seats in a car.
• Benefit: A warm bottom on your morning commute.

Consider your service/product, list out the features, and then, list the benefits that are associated with it.

Step 4: Tap into User-Generated Content

Want to know what your audience cares about?

Look at what they’re already saying:

• Best Sources: Reddit posts, Trustpilot reviews, G2 reviews, YouTube comments.
• How to Use It: Find exact phrases, common pain points, and recurring desires. Use these insights for ad copy, blog posts, or product messaging.

Example:

On a Reddit thread about marketing software, a user might say:
“I’m tired of clunky interfaces that waste my time. I just want something that works without a steep learning curve.”

That’s gold for your next ad headline or lead-in.

As I said, one of our best ads used copy that came directly from the research I conducted on the market.

The idea here is, that you want to get as close as possible to the overarching understanding of what your customer truly wants.

Step 5: Build the Dreams and Pains Matrix

Create a simple table to map your customers’ emotional landscape:

Hopes & Dreams Example: Achieve financial freedom

Pains & Fears Example: Fear of going broke

Barriers & Uncertainties Example: Don’t know where to start

Map out 3–6 from what you’ve found from user-generated content. That way, you’re not assuming what they want but you truly have an understanding of where they are.

This gives you a roadmap for crafting messaging that resonates on a deeper level.

Why is this so important?

When you deliver a message to your customer via ads, content, cold email, etc., a timely message that resonates will make your marketing work infinitely better.

I cannot underestimate how important your message is.

A good message can add millions to your enterprise value.

A bad message can keep you stuck for years.

Step 6: Analyze Competitors

Want to stand out?

Start by knowing what you’re up against.

• Who are your top 10 competitors?
• What are their hooks?
• What emotions do their ads leverage (fear, curiosity, desire)?
• What’s their unique mechanism (e.g., AI growth funnel)?

Pro Tip:

Use the Meta Ad Library or Google Ad Transparency to find and screenshot competitors’ ads. Analyze their websites, landing pages, and content.

For us, we create a whimsical chart full of all these digital assets based on the client’s marketplace.

While building and testing our marketing, we will refer to the competitors and their digital assets.

Why?

Since they’ve already spent the time, the money, and the effort to create their marketing, it’s safe to say they are already a bit ahead.

Needless to say, this does not mean you copy them.

They are probably broke and have a lead problem too.

But what you can do is steal and be better.

‘Steal’ means you combine all the competitors to make a message that takes great parts from each competitor.

Additionally, you can get a pulse on the market and propose actionable tactics to be better than them.

Step 7: Identify Market Sophistication Levels

Not all customers are created equal.

Eugene Schwartz’s “Breakthrough Advertising” touches on this. However, we’ve identified four levels of market awareness to make it a bit simpler to understand:

1. Most Sophisticated (3%): Ready to buy right now.
2. Information Gatherers (17%): Need education before buying.
3. Problem Aware (20%): Know their problem but not the solution.
4. Unaware (60%): Don’t realize they have a problem yet.

Tailor your messaging to each segment.

Consider this.

Information gatherers will be happy to download a free report, consume content, read your emails, etc.

Problem-aware people will be happy to watch a video, a webinar, or something more problem-focused.

The point here: you want to deliver information that solves a pain in exchange for their name, number, and email.

Same way we do it for our successful campaign where we give away the report on how to book 100+ sales calls.

From there, you want to ‘sell in a vacuum’ as Dan Kennedy says.

Meaning, that you are the sole provider of information that can help your prospects ascend to ‘buying now’ via more content, videos, and more.

Since you already have their information, the best way to deliver this information is via email campaigns, SMS, and retargeting ads.

Only until they are ready, then you should ask them to book a call.

Step 8: Craft Your Power Offer

This is where all your hard work pays off.

You’ve uncovered their deepest pains, desires, and hesitations — now it’s time to deliver an offer that speaks directly to them.

A winning offer is built on four pillars:

• New: Introduce a fresh, unique solution that stands out. Your offer should feel like a game-changer, something they haven’t seen before. Remember, “What’s better than better? New.” Your solution should cut through the noise and make competitors look outdated.
• Exciting: Spark curiosity and desire by painting a vivid picture of what life looks like after they say “yes” to your offer. Highlight the transformation they’ll experience, whether it’s a problem solved, a dream achieved, or a hassle eliminated.
• Predictable: Instill confidence by laying out a clear, step-by-step path to results. Avoid vague promises — be specific about how and when they’ll get what they want. People don’t just buy outcomes, they buy certainty that those outcomes are within reach.
• Huge: Go beyond solving their surface-level problems. Show how your offer creates a ripple effect of positive change in their lives. Promise big, life-altering results — but back them up with a clear rationale or guarantee to make it believable.

Example:

For an HVAC company:
“We’ll make your home more comfortable than ever before. If we don’t, we’ll redo the work for free. You’ll see a noticeable difference in air quality, energy efficiency, and temperature control within 30 days — or it’s on us.”

This combines new (a unique guarantee), exciting (a tangible improvement), predictable (specific timeframe and results), and huge (peace of mind and a better quality of life).

Your offer is the bridge between your audience’s pain points and their ideal outcomes.

Build it with these four pillars, and you’ll have a proposition that’s not just compelling — it’s irresistible.

TL;DR — Sherlock Holmes Strategy

Great marketing isn’t about being clever or flying blind, it’s about knowing your audience better than anyone else with this exact strategy.

By mastering the Sherlock Holmes research strategy, you’ll be 1000 steps closer to growing your business and achieving predictable results.

Here’s a quick overview:

• Save money and resources by focusing on what works, not guessing or relying on trends.
• Speak your audience’s language by understanding their deepest fears, desires, and motivations straight from their own words.
• Create campaigns that connect and convert, hitting the bullseye every time because they’re tailored to your audience’s exact needs.
• Build offers so compelling, they become no-brainer decisions for your audience — leading to more sales, more trust, and more advocacy for your business.

There aren’t any shortcuts to profitable marketing campaigns.

You must build a foundation that guarantees long-term success.

Put in the effort upfront to truly understand your market, and you’ll set yourself apart in a way that no competitor can touch.

If you want to dive deeper into this process, I filmed a video where I go into more depth on sections I couldn’t include in this article. Give it a watch here:

And if you want to book a call with my team to see if we can possibly build you a profitable strategy, watch this free training video and book on the next page.

As always, thanks for reading.